Custom 1988 Toyota Pickup - Gone Insanely Low - Busted Knuckles

Busted Knuckles

Future FeatureAlthough many people are obsessed with making their trucks low in order to tuck a large portion of 20-inch and larger wheels, Scott Srednicki's '88 Toyota pickup tucks the lugs on a set of puny 17s. The way it is able to do this is it was modified to sit just 1/4 inch from the bottom of the doors. With the truck so low, the fender-to-ground clearance has been seriously minimized. At the same time, the space for big rollers has also been reduced. But, I think we can all agree that sporting a set of small 17s can be easily overlooked because this truck can sit so low.

With the help of Nick Danna, the entire chassis was modified to make all of this happen. Starting with a fairly stock suspension, Nick added a set of Cando Specialties lower control arms and a pair of Slam Specialties RE-6 airbags up front. Then, he created a trick and durable frame from the firewall rearward out of 2x3x1/4-inch steel tubing. For the rearend, Nick created a wishbone-style three-link suspension with another set of Slam 'bags to raise the truck over the Mitsubishi Eclipse wheels.

Originally, the 3/4 frame was created to body-drop the truck while retaining the factory floor in the cab. During construction, Scott decided to have the majority of the rocker panels hacked off to make the truck sit even lower. To get the body down, the floor of the cab and the bed was removed to compensate for space needed to raise the frame. Since Scott is six-feet-tall, he needs all the room he can get in a vehicle, so Nick then created supports for a custom floor that will be later finished with more legroom.

A 2-1/4-inch chop-top drops the roofline down to an amazing 43 1/2 inches when the truck is laid out. Nick accomplished this by cutting the rear cab pillars down and leaning back the front A-pillars after they were cut 1-inch shorter. The rest of the body had been sanded down to reveal some bad work. The factory door skins were warped due to someone overheating them while welding filler plates to shave the handles. To fix this, Nick cut out the damaged area and carefully welded in new sheetmetal. The bed will also receive a new floor and the rear will be shaved clean with a combo skin.

Scott wants this truck to be really simple to accentuate the truck's height. Since he will be driving it, he wants to paint the truck in a single orange color. That way if any panels get chipped, they can be easily repaired. On the inside, the dash, console, and all other panels will be custom-made to flow with the lines of the exterior. They will also be finished in the same paint as the exterior. If all goes well, this truck should be something to look for at shows.